The present invention relates generally to the field of resource forecasting, and more particularly to forecasting for resources that are redeployable.
Forecasting involves creating predictions about events, where the event has yet to occur. Forecasting in a supply chain can include predictions for both demand or supply of a given good or service. For example, one may forecast demand for a good or service, such as how many units of a product will be ordered or how long a service will be used. Similarly, one may forecast supply for a good or service, such as how many units of a product will be available or how many hours can a service be provided. For consumable products, the interaction between supply and demand is relatively easy to model. When a supplier sells a product to a consumer, the product is used and satisfies demand for a customer in the time period the product was sold. If demand for the product exists in later periods another unit of supply will need to be created by the supplier to satisfy demand. Redeployable resources, such as products or services that can be reused, however, create new considerations in modeling as a supply unit in one time period may be used again in other time periods.